Gompa

Repeats every week every Saturday until Sat Jun 11 2022 except Sat May 28 2022.
10:00 am Saturday, May 14, 2022

Buddhist Mind Science: Activating Your Potential

Module 1 - Cultivating Lasting Happiness: What Buddhism and Science Have to Say About It

 

This course focuses on an exploration of what leads to dissatisfaction and suffering, and what contributes to happiness for oneself and others. Participants will be introduced to the fundamentals of meditation and mind training, especially in the areas of establishing a meaningful direction in life, balancing the mind with equanimity and a caring attitude, and nurturing warmheartedness and wisdom drawn from the Buddhist tradition. This is complemented by references to current scientific understanding on our nervous system, values, subjective well-being, neuroplasticity and altruism.

This four-part course takes place online only (via Zoom) from 10am to noon on Saturdays: May 14, 21, June 4, 11, 2022.

Sorry, registration is closed for this course. 

Syllabus for Buddhist Mind Science, Module 1

This short course is a part of a new FPMT pilot series, "Buddhist Mind Science: Activating Your Potential", that focuses on meditation and the mind to provide insight and practical techniques on meditation, the mechanisms of suffering and happiness, finding mental balance, and how to discover and develop our potential for compassion and wisdom. The presentation is in harmony with a comparative modern scientific perspective.

We depend on your support

In keeping with our tradition, Kadampa Center does not charge a fee to attend any Dharma teachings, so that financial resources will never be an obstacle to hearing the Dharma. We rely on the generosity of students to be able to offer these courses, inclulding making an offering to the teachers who will lead each module. 

Your support for the course opens access to the Dharma for others, and enables Kadampa Center to make a generous offering to each module's teacher.

Support Buddhist Mind Science

 

Instructors for this module: 

 

Marina Brucet Vinyals holds a BA and a MA in Biochemistry and a PhD in Molecular Biology in Immunology from the University of Barcelona, where she also performed postdoctoral studies. After this, she decided to change research in the laboratory for research of the mind and its possibilities. To this aim, she completed a six-year full-time study program Masters Program of Advanced Buddhist Studies of Sutra and Tantra at Lama Tzong Khapa Institute, Italy. She studied with great Tibetan lamas such as His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Lama Jampa Monlam and Khensur Jampa Tegchok, amongst others, and has completed a one-year individual meditation retreat, among others. Presently, she combines continual development and meditation retreats with teaching meditation and Buddhist philosophy, at both general and specialized levels, with an approach that always takes into account the context and circumstances of Western life. She mainly teaches at Tushita Meditation Center Spain and other FPMT centers, and collaborates with SEE Learning (Emory University) in Spain.

Hans Burghardt holds a BA and a MA in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and a PhD from the University of Barcelona, where he spent seven years doing research. Since 2002, he meditates and is a student of great Buddhist masters including His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Kyabje Lama Zopa Rinpoche, Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche, Lama Jampa Monlam, Khensur Jampa Tegchok amongst others. He has completed the Masters Program of Advanced Buddhist Studies of Sutra and Tantra at Istituto Lama Tzong Khapa (Italy) and has completed a one-year individual meditation retreat. He currently teaches meditation and Buddhism at Tushita Meditation Center Spain and other FPMT centers, and is co-founder and coordinator of the Initiative for an Emotional, Ethical, and Social Education, that promotes the establishment of Emory University's SEE Learning in Spain.

 
  

This program is offered jointly by:

 

Location at Kadampa Center: 
Gompa
12:30 pm Friday, March 25, 2022
Location at Kadampa Center: 
Gompa
10:00 am Saturday, March 26, 2022

 

We all need purification and merit, and circumambulating sacred objects is a simple and powerful way to do this. 

Kadampa Center is blessed to have not only a stupa, but a gompa filled with statues, thangkas and holy texts, as well as a garden Buddha statue – all powerful objects for circumambulation!

    

Venerable Lhamo will lead us in prayer followed by seven circumambulations of these sacred items on our grounds – stupa, gompa and garden Buddha. Then we will gather again for dedication.

We invite everyone to stay and socialize afterward. Kadampa Center will provide beverages, and participants are welcome to bring a bag lunch to enjoy after the practice.

Volunteer!  If you can, please come 30 minutes early to help set up, and stay a few minutes after to help clean up.  Thank you!

Location at Kadampa Center: 
Gompa
Repeats every week every Sunday until Sun Sep 11 2022 except Sun May 22 2022, Sun Jul 03 2022, Sun Jul 10 2022, Sun Aug 07 2022, Sun Sep 04 2022.
11:30 am Sunday, March 13, 2022

 

Medicine Buddha, Green Tara, Vajrasattva, Refuge, and more! 

Join these very special, auspicious opportunities as Geshe Gelek leads and instructs us in meditation and prayer of several foundational practices in Tibetan Buddhism.

Geshe Gelek chooses the practice each Sunday and some weeks may be skipped.

How to attend online:

Students who are already present in the gompa, on Zoom or on YouTube for the Sunday Morning Teachings can simply stay for the practice session.

Students who wish to attend the practice but aren't present for the teachings can use their Zoom link for Sunday Dharma, or go to our YouTube channel.

Register here for Sunday Dharma and meditation practices in Zoom.

If you attend in the gompa, please observe our COVID protocols:

  • Gompa seating will be limited to allow for social distancing and maximum air filtration (please do not rearrange seating).
  • Anyone wishing to attend Sunday Dharma inside the gompa must have an up-to-date COVID-19 vaccine. Up-to-date means a person has received all recommended doses in their primary series COVID-19 vaccine, and a booster dose when eligible. No other conditions (such as being infected with COVID-19 in the past) qualify you to be in the gompa. 
  • There will be overflow seating in the lobby. 
  • Please maintain at least a 6-foot distance from Geshe-la, whether he is seated or entering/leaving the building. We will not have a khata line or opportunities to bring offerings to Geshe-la at the end of teachings. Of course, any student who wishes to make an offering may leave an envelope or card of appreciation on his table before he arrives. This is to protect our precious teacher.
  • Masks must be worn at all times while inside the building.  Masks are optional for our teachers so they can be clearly understood.
  • Please use hand sanitizer upon entering the Center.
  • Continue to use good hand hygiene practices while onsite e.g. washing hands immediately after using the restroom or blowing your nose, keeping your hands to yourself, avoid touching your face, cover coughs and sneezes with your elbow.
  • Please stay home if you, or someone you have been around, don’t feel well.
Location at Kadampa Center: 
Gompa
Thursday, March 3, (All day) to Friday, March 18, (All day) 2022

     

At the beginning of each Tibetan year, Ven Roger requests advice for Rinpoche’s health and the success of the FPMT organization.  This year Khadro-la, Rangjung Neljorma Khadro Namsel Dronme, has advised that it would be extremely beneficial if FPMT students can recite the Mani and White Tara mantras for His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s health and the fulfilment of all their wishes, and for the benefit of all in the FPMT organization.

The request is to recite these mantras during the most meritorious period starting with Losar (March 3rd), and up to and including the last of the Days of Miracles – Chotrul Duchen, on March 18th.  And to please dedicate using the FPMT dedication prayers (in the FPMT Essential Prayer Book and Complete Dedication Prayer Book), including the long life prayer for His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

 

We will keep a count of our recitations and send our numbers to FPMT on March 19, so they can be offered to Lama Zopa Rinpoche on our behalf. 

Enter your mantra count here. 

Here are links to information about the mantras:

       OM MANI PADME HUM is the Mani mantra of Chenrezig (find out more about the practice and its benefits here).

 

    White Tara Mantra:  OM TARE TUTTARE TURE MAMA AYUR PUNYE JÑANA PUSHTIM KURU [YE] SVAHA 

       Find out more about the White Tara mantra here 

 

 

And don't forget that throughout the year, we offer Green Tara mantras for the long lives of Geshe Gelek and Geshe Sangpo.

You may enter your Green Tara mantras for our Geshes here.

 

Location at Kadampa Center: 
Gompa
Repeats every week every Thursday until Thu Apr 28 2022.
7:00 pm Thursday, March 17, 2022

Exploring Buddhism: Exploring the Path

 

To proceed on the stages of the path to enlightenment it is important to have a good understanding of this entire spiritual journey.

This module of Exploring Buddhism will provide a concise overview of the whole path to enlightenment as it is traditionally presented in texts belonging to the stages of the path genre, and impart the importance of and method for meditating on the complete teachings of Buddha in this practice-oriented way.

 

Previous study of at least some modules of Discovering Buddhism, either in a center or online, is highly recommended before enrolling in this program.

New students are welcome.  You do not have to have attended previous Exploring Buddhism modules.

This pilot course will take place online only (via Zoom) on Thursday evenings from 7 to 9 pm.

Sorry, registration for Exploring the Path is closed

Syllabus for Exploring the Path

Exploring Buddhism is a new program  currently being developed by FPMT to serve as a bridge between Discovering Buddhism and The Basic Program. It is designed to help students of Buddhism delve more deeply into a broad array of topics that form a solid foundation for furthering one’s study and practice.  The program will initially be run as a pilot program in FPMT centers to further test and refine the curriculum.

We depend on your support

In keeping with our tradition, Kadampa Center does not charge a fee to attend any Dharma teachings, so that financial resources will never be an obstacle to hearing the Dharma. We rely on the generosity of students to be able to offer these courses, inclulding making an offering to the teachers who will lead each module. 

Your support for the course opens access to the Dharma for others, and enables Kadampa Center to make a generous offering to each module's teacher.

Support Exploring Buddhism

 

Instructor for this module: Gen Don Handrick

 

Gen Don Handrick is a touring teacher for the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), sharing the Dharma with centers and study groups in North America and other parts of the world, both in-person and online.

Don's study of Buddhism began in 1993 after reading The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying by Sogyal Rinpoche. Over the next two years he practiced with Sogyal Rinpoche's organization, until he began attending classes in 1996 with Venerable Robina Courtin at Tse Chen Ling in San Francisco.

Don left the Bay Area in 1998 to attend the FPMT's Masters Program of Buddhist Studies in Sutra and Tantra, a seven-year residential study program conducted at Lama Tzong Khapa Institute in Tuscany, Italy, and taught by the scholar and kind Spiritual Friend, Geshe Jampa Gyatso. He successfully completed all five subjects of this program in 2004, receiving an FPMT final certificate with high honors.

Students appreciate his humble, compassionate demeanor and his capacity to explain profound ideas with precision, contemporary examples and humor.

  

This program is offered jointly by:

 

 

Location at Kadampa Center: 
Gompa
11:00 am Saturday, February 26, 2022

Celebrate with our own Geshe Palden Sangpo on the launch of his new book, Opening the Door to Happiness: A Commentary on the Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva. 

More than a year in the making, this insightful book explores the profound practice of training in the altruistic attitude.

Geshe Sangpo's intention for writing this book is to benefit all who read it. He freely offers this book as a teaching and will make no monetary gain from its release. Through the generosity of many kind benefactors, copies of Opening the Door to Happiness: A Commentary on the Thirty-Seven Practices of a Bodhisattva will be freely given away at the center while supplies last.  

Please join us Saturday, February 26, for these very special events

Sorry, registration to attend the ceremony in person is full. All are welcome to attend online, and to come afterward to receive a free copy of the book for Geshe Sangpo to sign. We expect the book signing to begin at approximately 11:30 am. 

Book Launch Ceremony begins at 11 am

Register Here for Zoom Attendance

YouTube: Watch the Livestream Here

Book Signing begins approximately 11:30 am

After the presentation, Geshe Sangpo will be available to sign books. All are welcome to come to the book signing. We ask that you observe social distancing and wear a mask when approaching the book signing table. 

If you are unable to attend the book launch, we will have copies of the book at the Center for people to pick up while supplies last. The Center is open on Sunday mornings from 10 am until noon, before and after the Sunday teachings.

 

Location at Kadampa Center: 
Gompa
Repeats every week every Monday until Mon May 23 2022.
7:00 pm Monday, April 18, 2022

 

Discover practices that develop our innate qualities of compassion. Learn to apply these techniques to generate the mind of bodhichitta, known as the very heart of Buddha's teachings.

Discovering Buddhism is now being offered in an online/onsite hybrd format.  Students have the option to attend class either online or onsite in person at the Kadampa Center!

♦ONLINE participation via Zoom or YouTube, click HERE to enroll.

♦ONSITE in-person participation at the Kadampa Center, click HERE to enroll. 
 
 
How to Develop Bodhichitta is part of a two-year series of classes called Discovering Buddhism. In this course we explore 13 essential topics in Buddhism, from Meditation to Karma to Death and Rebirth, with much, much more! This is an excellent course of study for those who have the very basics and wish to start going a little deeper into Buddhist philosophy.

DB was developed by our affiliate organization, the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition, and is taught at Kadampa Center by senior lay students with many years of study and practice. Students who take the course together tend to develop great friendships with their Dharma buddies!

In keeping with our long-standing tradition, Kadampa Center does not charge a fee for any Dharma course. These teachings are too precious to allow money to be an obstacle for anyone to hear them!  We do, of course, have expenses to offer the course, so we happily welcome any heart-felt donations.  

The instructor for this class is Don Brown.

Location at Kadampa Center: 
Gompa
6:45 pm Tuesday, February 1, 2022
Location at Kadampa Center: 
Gompa
7:00 pm Thursday, March 3, 2022

     

We will celebratethis special Guru Puja on Losar in honor of both Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche, co-founders of the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition.

Online only via Zoom and YouTube.

Lama Yeshe passed away in the early morning of Losar in 1984. Rinpoche said there is incredible merit in offering tsog (offerings) on that occasion each year.

Guru puja (Lama Chöpa)  is a practice of making offerings and requests to all the Buddhas and holy beings, but especially the root guru, who, according to the teachings, is the root of the path to liberation. It is a practice recommended by FPMT's Spiritual Director Lama Zopa Rinpoche, who says:

 

"This practice of Guru Puja is very profound, with many extra benefits, and is very quick to bring enlightenment. The lam-rim prayer, the prayer of the steps of the path to enlightenment, in Guru Puja has lam-rim and also lo-jong, or thought transformation. Generally, the whole of the lam-rim, from guru devotion up to enlightenment, is thought transformation. If your mind is not transformed into the path, how can you have realizations of the path? There’s no way, without transforming your mind."

As part of the puja, we perform a special practice called tsog which has extensive offerings. According to the Liberation Prison Project Tibetan calendar, on the 10th and 25th of every Tibetan (lunar) month, Lama Zopa Rinpoche says, “Those who have received an initiation into Highest Yoga Tantra have a commitment to perform tsog” on these days. Kadampa Center holds pujas with tsog on these dates (when they don't conflict with other programs).

Anyone is welcome to attend pujas, even if you are unfamiliar with the practice. This puja is partly recited in English and partly chanted in Tibetan. (It is possible to read the English translations of the whole puja, and there is optional sheet music available to help learn the Tibetan tunes.) Traditionally the offerings for the sangha and puja are sponsored by Dharma students, especially if they want to dedicate the puja to their spiritual teachers or loved ones in need of support and prayers.

Sponsoring a puja is a great way to create merit, and it's especially auspicious to do so on a holy day for a puja dedicated to one of our teachers. Sponsorship of this puja is $75, and sponsors can include a dedication that we will read at the puja so everyone can join in the sponsor's intentions. 

Sponsor Here

Location at Kadampa Center: 
Gompa

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